Differences from Captain Falcon
Attributes
- Ganondorf's attacks have more range than Captain Falcon's due to his longer arms and legs.
- Ganondorf's walking and dashing speed, falling speed, and air speed are all lower than Captain Falcon's.
- Ganondorf's jump and midair jump are lower than Captain Falcon's.
- Ganondorf's larger body makes him a much larger target.
- Ganondorf cannot wall jump unlike Captain Falcon.
- Ganondorf's moves are generally slower but more powerful than Captain Falcon's.
- Ganondorf is heavier than Captain Falcon but has lower gravity and falling speed, improving his horizontal endurance but lowering his vertical endurance.
- Many of Ganondorf's attacks deal darkness and electric damage as opposed to Captain Falcon's fire.
Ground attacks
- Forward tilt is significantly more powerful (the third strongest in the game), deal more damage, and is not much slower than Captain Falcon's.
- Dash attack is still fast and much more powerful than Captain Falcon's, as well as being a useful combo starter.
- Forward smash has much higher knockback and range.
- Up smash is designed to hit only once (and if it hits multiple times it is the most damaging up smash in the game) and is much stronger than Captain Falcon's.
- Down smash is designed to hit twice and has much higher knockback than Captain Falcon's, while still retaining the same speed.
- Up tilt is radically different; it consists of Ganondorf raising his leg in the air for 88 frames before bringing it down in an explosive kick. It is extremely powerful, but slow to the point of uselessness.
- Down tilt is slower but not more powerful than Captain Falcon's.
- Forward smash is much slower than Captain Falcon's.
- Up smash is less useful as a combo move.
- Down smash deals less damage if it only hits once.
- Neutral attack is a single punch with an electric effect and unusually high knockback for a jab. However, it is not as damaging as Captain Falcon's Gentleman.
- Forward smash has almost purely vertical knockback instead of largely horizontal.
- Down smash has diagonal knockback instead of largely horizontal.
Aerial attacks
- Neutral aerial has much higher damage and knockback on both hits, and the first hit has KO power on its own.
- Forward aerial has no sourspot and much longer range than Captain Falcon's Knee Smash.
- Back aerial has no sourspot and better range and power than Captain Falcon's.
- Up aerial is much stronger and longer-ranged than Captain Falcon's, and, although it has a sourspot unlike Captain Falcon's, the sourspot has a favorable semi-spike angle and high hitstun that can be used for edgeguarding.
- Down aerial is much stronger in both damage and knockback than Captain Falcon's equivalent, making it the strongest meteor smash from a fighter in Melee, able to KO grounded opponents under 100% damage.
- Neutral aerial is designed to hit only once, and does slightly less damage than Captain Falcon's two hits if it hits once.
- Forward aerial is less powerful than a sweetspotted Knee Smash and has significantly higher landing lag.
- Up aerial is a less effective move for combos thanks to its increased power, and it cannot hit opponents upwards. It also has an added sourspot at the end of the move that deals little damage and knockback, but can be used for edgeguarding as described above.
- Down aerial is much slower than Captain Falcon's, with drastically increased landing lag, and it lacks the nipple spike hitbox.
- Forward aerial has a completely different animation from Captain Falcon's Knee Smash.
Special moves
- Warlock Punch is much more powerful than the Falcon Punch, able to KO virtually any character under 30% damage on the tournament legal stages. It also deal more damage.
- Gerudo Dragon deals much more damage than Raptor Boost.
- Dark Dive is a stronger move that deals higher damage than Falcon Dive and can hit opponents who attempt to intercept Ganondorf.
- Grounded Wizard's Foot is stronger than Falcon Kick with a more favorable semi-spike angle.
- Aerial Wizard's Foot is a powerful spike instead of dealing upwards vertical knockback like Falcon Kick. It is also safer to use to restore Ganondorf's midair jump thanks to his lower falling speed compared to Captain Falcon.
- Warlock Punch is much slower than the Falcon Punch, and Ganondorf is unable to perform an equivalent to Captain Falcon's Sacred Combo due to his lower air speed, the diagonal knockback angle of his forward aerial, and Warlock Punch's obscene startup lag.
- Gerudo Dragon's increased knockback makes it harder to combo into other attacks compared to Raptor Boost, while still being unable to KO at realistic percentages. It also is slower, covers less distance, and the aerial version cannot meteor smash.
- Dark Dive is slightly slower than Falcon Dive.
- Wizard's Foot has slightly more lag before and after the kick both on the ground and in the air.
- Warlock Punch has significantly different aesthetics from the Falcon Punch, even discounting the darkness effect; it lacks the falcon-shaped fiery aura and falcon screech during the punch.
- Dark Dive deals multiple hits before releasing the opponent, but cannot be Smash DI'ed out thanks to being a grab.